Holy Thursday memories

A very special day today for all the priests as they celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood – with a big difference this year as none of the customary decorations and celebrations will be held. Today the Chrism Mass is usually celebrated by the Bishop, surrounded by all of his priests, which will also be eliminated today from the celebration at the Cathedral. The many parish churches and chapels pride themselves today with decorating their Altar of Repose with flowers, candles, angels and other symbols of the Eucharist.

I share with you three of these Altars from last year, as thousands of people are used to visit these chapels and churches to pray the traditional 7 visits to 7 churches, a custom started by St Philip Neri in Rome, when he visited the 7 basilicas of Rome with his oratory students. Then there is the foot-washing ceremony held at each Mass, a re-enactment of which I held also for our children in my former parishes, as seen in the last photo in today’s post. Let us pray that the lack of our traditional celebrations will bring a strong yearning in people’s minds and hearts to return back to their churches with more fervor, as soon as our lives return to normal, hopefully soon.

The foot-washing ceremony for children at St. Francis, Bend, OR.